Silence On Rosenfeld Strikes City Council

Joe Rosenfeld is everybody's favorite topic that no one wants to talk about.

And after meeting yesterday with Allentown Mayor Joseph Daddona, the affliction preventing Daddona from speaking publicly about his community affairs assistant has now struck City Council.

"We've come to an agreement with the mayor on how we're going to proceed, the details of which I can't talk about because it's confidential," said Councilman Lee Gaumer.

Gaumer has become the pivotal fourth vote in the attempt by City Council to convene hearings on Rosenfeld's alleged abuse of office.

After council met with Daddona for 90 minutes, Gaumer emerged to say he won't say if hearings will proceed. The answer, Gaumer said, will become evident next week.

The meeting was to have resolved whether council would convene the hearings, pending answers from Daddona about his aide's behavior. Gaumer said Tuesday he wanted the Rosenfeld matter ended one way or another.

"Let's get this over with," Gaumer had said.

Councilman Tony Frey went slightly further in his comments than Gaumer, but stopped short of explaining what agreement had been reached.

"Lee Gaumer has given a stipulation to the mayor. He's going to give him until next week," Frey said.

Councilman Fred Hawkins, who has opposed council hearings on the Rosenfeld controversy, said Rosenfeld will be presented with two alternatives from which to choose. Council will respond, accordingly, Hawkins said.

Hawkins said neither alternative involves discipline of Rosenfeld, Daddona's long-time political ally and supporter who has worked as Daddona's community affairs assistant since he was forced by council from his job as city solicitor in 1987. Rosenfeld receives $30,000 a year for his part-time post.

"They (the alternatives) have to do with the nature of the hearing and the nature of the action council will take," Hawkins said.

Daddona said there were no alternatives presented at the meeting and there won't be a hearing as a result of the agreement reached with Gaumer.

"I talked about no alternatives," Daddona said, adding, "Laws on personnel confidentiality strictly prohibit revealing publicly the nature and items discussed at the meeting. What I can say, however, is we reached an agreement postponing the need for a council hearing at this time."

If there are hearings, Hawkins said they won't be public.

Frey disagreed, saying that Rosenfeld can choose whether hearings are public or not.

Frey also said he didn't agree with Gaumer's decision to give Daddona another week. But, Frey lamented, Gaumer is the fourth vote needed to convene hearings, if they are to be held, and there is little he could do.

Councilwoman Emma Tropiano, sponsor of the legislation to investigate Rosenfeld's alleged misconduct, left the meeting with Daddona after about 45 minutes.

"Everything he says is confidential. We can't do this, we can't do that," Tropiano mimicked Daddona. "I got a headache listening to all this," she said.

Tropiano's bill calls for investigation into Rosenfeld's lobbying of the mayor against a proposed bus terminal adjacent to property owned by Rosenfeld's father on S. 7th Street, Rosenfeld's use of city workers and computers to create personal letterhead that lists city fax and phone numbers, and Rosenfeld's storage of city files in a private storage area.

It has also been alleged that Rosenfeld abused phone privileges in City Hall by making long-distance calls from home through the city phone lines and attempted to intimidate members of the mayor's cabinet and other employees by repeated threats to sue them.